Wednesday, 25 May 2016Italian Navy Sixth FREMM ITS Luigi Rizzo Begins Sea TrialsOn May 17, ITS Luigi Rizzo cast off at 7.20 a.m. from Fincantieri shipyard in Muggiano (La Spezia) for her first sea outing. This activity marks the beginning of the programme of sea trials which will continue until the completion of the ship's outfitting phase. The FREMM frigate is scheduled to be delivered to the Italian Navy in early 2017.

n Monday, May 23, during a flight piloted Lt. Col. Alessandro O., commander of the 212th Flight Group, the 61st Wing passed the milestone of the first 1,000 hours flown by the T-346 aircraft supplied to the air force., reported by www.aeronautica.difesa.it.

The main players of this significant event -the instructors of the 212th Group, students, specialists, Leonardo-Finmeccanica staff stationed in Galatina and a staff representative of the Flight School – celebrated the event.

The story of the T-346 in the Italian air force began in August 2014, when the first type qualifications were issued to the Wing’s pilots. On October 2 of the same year, the first training mission was flown on aircraft with a “temporary” registration by two of the school’s instructors. On Feb 26, 2015 Col. Paul Tarantino, the Commander of the School, took delivery at Venegono of the first of the production aircraft assigned to Galatina Air Base.

This was followed by the training of the school’s instructors which continued until October 8, when the first Phase IV students, the Lead In Fighter Training (LIFT) candidates, began flying on the aircraft – ground courses had started in the previous August).

Since last November, the school has also started training pilots of the Polish Air Force, which has also acquired the T-346.

The M-346 Master is an advanced and lead-in fifth-generation fighter trainer being developed by Alenia Aermacchi (Italy), a Finmeccanica company. The aircraft is a development of the YAK/AEM-130, a joint programme with Yakolev Design Bureau and Sokol Manufacturing Plant of Russia. In July 2000, Alenia Aermacchi announced that it would cancel the joint project and develop the aircraft alone, as the M-346.

The M-346 provides combat pilot training for front line fighters with high angle-of-attack capability. The aerodynamic design of the M-346 uses vortex lift to provide manoeuvrability and controllability at very high angle-of-attack using a fly-by-wire control system.

The YAK/AEM-130 has flown in prototype form since 1996. As the Yak-130, the aircraft was selected in March 2002 as the Russian AF’s next generation combat trainer.

Italy’s defense procurement spending in 2016 is set to drop 3 percent to €4.72 billion, new budget documents reveal, although cash was found to launch a new jet trainer program and partner with France on a new missile program.

The dip, due to belt tightening as Italy struggles to escape recession, may alarm military officials, given the instability currently seen in North Africa and the renewed threat from Russia.

The spending trend, which looks set to continue for the next two years, runs contrary to a Europe-wide hike in defense spending currently underway.

Procurement funding for this year combines €2.18 billion from the Defense Ministry and a €2.54 billion top-up from the Industry Ministry, a decline on the €4.87 billion total made available last year, although the Defense Ministry funding is above the €1.95 billion initially forecast for 2016 in a provisional budget document released in December.

The latestl document, which was sent to the Italian Parliament and seen by Defense News, is a three year budget covering 2016-2018, as is customary, which indicates that Defense Ministry procurement funding is expected to drop to €1.93 billion next year and in 2018.

But there is good news for Italy’s Leonardo-Finmeccanica as €9 million is freed up this year to launch development funding for the firm’s new M-345 trainer, which was conceived in conjunction with the Italian Air Force to replace Italy’s MB339 trainer and act as a lead-in to the M-346 jet trainer, which the air force is now flying.

This year’s budget includes €235 million in additional funding to tackle terrorism following the Islamic State group attacks in Paris last November.

Eight million euros of that cash will go to beefing up sensors on Italy’s fleet of Predator UAVs, which are now allowed to patrol the skies over Italy in law enforcement operations. Although Italy was given permission to also arm its US-built UAVs by the US, no armaments have been acquired as the Italian Parliament has yet to vote on the matter.

Elsewhere in the budget, Italy’s decision to partner with France on the upgrading of the Aster 30 missile through the Aster Block 1 New Technology program is backed with €15 million in funding.

The upgrade program for the multi-national missile, which France launched in December, will extend its range for intercepting ballistic missiles. The funding document puts Italy's eventual contribution to the program at €237.4 million.

Another new, albeit small program involves kitting out Italy’s 767 tankers for medical evacuation missions, at a cost of €4.6 million.

As revealed by a source to Defense News last month, Italy’s plan to build a second brigade around newly purchased Freccia armored vehicles looks set to be a slow process after only €21 million out of €2.65 billion required was provided this year.

Other funds listed for the program are needed to cover payments for the first brigade, said a source knowledgeable of the program. “At this rate it could take 20 years to complete the second brigade,” he said.

Funding for a new Centauro II wheeled tank stands at €9.4 million, well short of the €160 million predicted last month, although the source said it was the first tranche in a multi-year funding stream that should reach €160 million.

Overall Ministry of Defense funding, including procurement, maintenance and operations and personnel, runs to €13.36 billion this year, up from €13.19 billion last year thanks to a hike in M&O funding.

But the document said that rise was due to extra anti-terrorism patrols by soldiers on Italian streets.

Apart from the new programs, big ticket items like new multi-mission vessels, U-212 submarines, Eurofighters, early warning Gulfstream aircraft and new AW101 helicopters for the air force all continue to receive funding.

Italy’s ongoing purchase of F-35s is funded to the tune of €630 million. Following parliamentary votes in 2014 demanding a reduction in spending on the program, the document claims that €1 billion will be trimmed off spending between 2016 and 2019, and that spending last year was cut from €583 million to €370 million.

No explanation of where the cuts are being made is given, so it is not clear if the savings are related to Italy’s provisional decision to cut its F-35 order from 131 to 90 aircraft.

The document features a list of programs that are being put on ice due to lack of funds, including the long planned purchase of a new Signals Intelligence aircraft to replace fazed out G222s.

That means Italy is without a SIGINT capability after its lease on a Gulfstream SIGINT platform, rented from Lockheed Martin, ran out earlier this year.

The decision to let the lease lapse, reportedly due to lack of funds, comes as Western special forces take on ISIS in Libya, and contrasts with Italy’s announcement in a new White Paper, issued this year, that it wants to take a central role in Mediterranean military affairs.

ROME — With the release of final funding this year, Italy is due to achieve a minimum capability with its MEADS antimissile system, capping a long and sometimes fraught development program.

Following the release of €3.1 million ($3.5 million) in its 2016 defense budget, the Italian defense ministry said it would wrap up development of the system this year, having spent a total of €595 million, or $672 million.

“This is the last money to be spent,” an Italian defense source said.

However, speculation is mounting as to whether Italy will provide additional money to press on with the program and keep in step with fellow partner Germany, which has opted to order the system.

“The Air Force is currently weighing their needs against a currently constrained procurement budget,” said Gregory Kee, MEADS director of international business development at prime contractor Lockheed Martin. “It is just a question of when Italy is able to rejoin the program,” he said.

Italy originally took a 17 percent share in the program with MEADS partners Germany and the US, only to see the US pull out. Poland then mulled adopting the system before opting for Raytheon’s Patriot, before Germany agreed to acquire the MEADS system instead of Patriot in 2015.

At the Berlin Air Show in Germany this month, Lockheed and Martin and MBDA – the industrial partners on the program -- said they hoped to finish talks for the $4.5 billion deal with Germany by year’s end.

Germany has set tough milestones for the program and Raytheon has said it remains in talks to sell Patriot to Berlin should MEADS fail to live up to its billing.

In Italy, with the last round of funding this year, the country has reached what is known as “minimum engagement capability”, meaning it will own one launcher, one radar and one command-and-control shelter.

Speaking at the Berlin show this month, MBDA Germany CEO Thomas Homberg said he was confident Italy would push on with the MEADS program.

An Italian defense source said Italy already has a role in the German program. “Italy is a design authority on the missile and the engagement chain of the system in use by the Germans,” the source said.

The Italians “want to build on their investment in the system,” said Lockheed’s Kee. “Consultations are taking place between Germany and Italy at the government level – Italy is extremely interested in a further collaboration in the context of continuing the cooperation and would like to contribute its own MEADS-based program,” he said.

Germany has chosen to integrate its own Iris-T missile into the MEADS system as well as the PAC-3 missile, but Kee said, “It is premature to speculate on what secondary missile Italy might procure.”

The Italian source said Italy “may possibly consider a second missile, but it would unlikely be the Iris-T.”

As Italy ponders the future evolution of its embryonic MEADS capability, the battle in Europe between MEADS and Patriot has continued.

After opting for Patriot in 2015, Poland elected a new government which said in February it was back in talks with Lockheed Martin about MEADS as part of a process of reviewing all procurement decisions made by the previous administration.

Last November, Holland said it would upgrade its existing Patriot setup instead of buying a new system like MEADS.

Earlier this year Turkey was reportedly considering MEADS after deciding not to buy an antimissile defense system from China.

As Italy’s central defense procurement office juggles funds to see if it can proceed with the procurement of more MEADS batteries, it will itself undergo an upheaval following a decision to move it out of offices in the center of Rome to an air base on the city’s outskirts.

Following the publication of Italy’s new white paper on defense, which called for a unification under one roof of Italy’s procurement offices, the central office will be joined at the Centocelle base by the individual procurement offices of the Army, Navy and Air Force, which have hitherto been housed at the headquarters of their respective services.

The massing of procurement officials at Centocelle, which is home to Italy’s joint operational command, is part of a bid by defense minister Roberto Pinotti to create synergies between the armed forces which have long been jealous of their own autonomy.

CIO unveiled its new Centauro II 8x8 tank destroyer armed with a 120 mm main gun at Eurosatory 2016 in Paris.

The new vehicle has been designed for the Italian Army, which is planning to buy 136 examples to equip nine cavalry units.

Speaking at Eurosatory on 14 June, Roberto Cortesi, the president of CIO, said that the new vehicle offered improved mobility, improved protection, networking and firepower over its predecessor, the 30-year-old Centauro.

Centauro II is designed for aggressive reconnaissance in force, with its mobility allowing it to rapidly deploy/evade, and its firepower allowing for the engagement of any enemy at maximum ranges.

The CIO consortium comprises IVECO and Oto Melara (now Leonardo), which has built more than 1,700 armoured vehicles for the Italian Army, including all its heavy- and medium-weight armour.

The Centauro II has been designed to fit Italian Army requirements for a vehicle of no more than 30 tonnes gross vehicle weight (GVW), a power-to-weight ratio of 24 hp/tonne (compared with 17 for its predecessor), a maximum road speed of more than 100 km/h, a range of 800 km, and higher ballistic protection that its predecessor.

Centauro II is armed with a 120 mm/45 calibre gun fitted with a semi-automatic loading system, a coaxial 7.62x51 mm machine gun and a Hitrole L remote weapon station (armed with anything from a 7.62 mm machine gun to a 40 mm automatic grenade launcher). The main gun offers a step-change in performance over the previous Centauro, which was armed with a 105/52 main gun, and is able to fire any NATO-qualified 120 mm smoothbore ammunition, including programmable rounds. The new gun has greater range, accuracy, and firepower than its predecessor. The Centauro II's new turret offers a fire-on-the-move capability, something not offered by the original Centauro. The 120/45 gun is an evolution of the 120/44 gun from the Ariete main battle tank, but has been optimised for low recoil, including the installation of a pepperpot muzzlebreak and other features that reduce the recoil force from 45 tonnes in the Ariete to 25 tonnes in the Centauro II.

ROME — The Italian Navy has released fresh details about its seven new, multifunctional ships as it seeks to wrap up a system design review (SDR) of the innovative vessels by the end of June.

As planners mull the use of a Google Glass-type kit for navigators on the bridge, they have also opted for a so-called wave piercing bow, which is expected to add almost a knot in speed.

With industry contracts signed last year thanks to a €5.4 billion (US $6.1 billion) funding package, the Navy now hopes it is on course to have its seven, 4,500-ton, 133-meter-long vessels delivered between 2021 and 2026.

Conceived with a hefty input from the Navy’s own design office, the vessels will be given dual role capabilities to help assist in civilian disaster operations or the interception of migrants in the Mediterranean, as well as fight wars.

The SDR is set to be completed by the end of this month — with some fine tuning on genset options to be made — and a critical design review is planned for February, an Italian defense source said.

Before then, steel cutting on the first ship by state-controlled shipbuilding yard Fincantieri is expected in the autumn.

ROME — The M-345 HET, the latest jet trainer to be developed by Italy’s Leonardo-Finmeccanica, will be acquired by the Italian Air Force this year once the Italian government releases initial development funding, a senior defense source has told Defense News.

The new aircraft, which will prepare pilots to move up to the firm’s advanced M-346 trainer, is edging towards first flights this year and may enter service by the end of 2018, company officials said.

Three years after the company announced it would develop the M-345 to replace its MB-339 trainer, Leonardo-Finmeccanica will be showing off the cockpit of the new aircraft at Farnborough, with officials calling the aircraft “unbeatable” for life cycle cost.

The M-345 basic-advanced trainer is based on the firm’s planned, but never-produced, M-311 trainer, albeit with new engines, avionics and some structural aerodynamic changes.

The M-311 was in turn a development of the S-211, which was sold to the Philippines, Singapore and Haiti.

The M-345 prototype now being readied is based on the M-311. It will have the M-345’s selected engine — the Williams FJ44-4M-34 — installed, and fly this year, officials said.

That will be followed by the flight by end 2017 of a pre-series aircraft which will feature the cockpit, complete with three multi-function screens and a Head Up Display for the pilot as well as three multi-function screens and a repeater of the HUD for the back seat.

The three-screen cockpit is similar to the M-346, even if Leonardo-Finmeccanica has decided that the version of the M-346 it will offer to the US in the TX bid will have just one large screen, in keeping with the F-35 configuration.

“We will keep a ‘classic’ cockpit with three multi-function screens on the M-345 because as a Phase II and III trainer, students could be selected to fly helicopters or multi-engine transports,” said an official. “Furthermore, most of the 4th/5th-generation fighters today, and at least up to 2030, still feature a 3-MFD cockpit configuration.”

The flight schedule, followed by deliveries in 2018, marks a slippage from earlier announcements of pre-series flights in 2016 and deliveries in 2017.

What could help accelerate the program is the €9 million in development funding that appeared in this year’s Italian defense budget, the first money slated for the M-345 program. “A contract is likely to be signed this year,” a senior defense source said.

FARNBOROUGH, England — As the F-35 makes its debut in the UK, an Italian think tank has claimed that if Italy had used the fighter in its 2011 air campaign against Libya it would have saved 100 million euros.

In a report issued on the eve of the Farnborough Air Show, the Rome-based ICSA think tank issued a report analyzing the cost benefits of the F-35 for the Italian Air Force, which is due to order 90 of the jets.

The report takes Italy’s role in the 2011 NATO air campaign against Libya as a test case, analysing the number and type of aircraft used.

The Italian Air Force participated in the international operation using Tornados, which deployed the Storm Shadow for the first time, and AMX aircraft, also for bombing runs

Tornado ECR aircraft were used for air defense suppression, while F-16s and Eurofighters flew no-fly zone patrols. C-130J and 767 tanker aircraft were used for refuelling.

Italian Navy AV-8s also made bombing sorties from the decks of the Italian carrier Garibaldi.

The report pointed to the need for Tornado and other aircraft to be rebased to Trapani in Sicily to reduce flying distances to Libya, due to their limited range, adding that both 767 and C-130J tanking flights were still required.

If the F-35 had already been delivered to Amendola in southern Italy, where it is due to be based, no rebasing would have been required for the aircraft, the report argues. The F-35B STOVL design, due to be ordered by Italy alongside the conventional take off and landing F-35A, would have been able to fly from land, doing away with the need to involve the Garibaldi, the report added.

Using the F-35 would also have reduced the need for so many types of jet and cut down on the need for airborne early warning missions, ISTAR missions and tanking missions, the report said.

The end result would have been a saving of two thirds saving on the 150 million euro cost of the mission, the report stated.

The handover/takeover ceremony took place on July 12, 2016 between Vice Admiral Giuseppe De Giorgi (outgoing) and Vice Admiral Valter Girardelli (upcoming). Following a wreath laying at the Altar of the Homeland and accompanied by the performance of the Italian Navy Band, the Chief of Navy handover ceremony was held in the presence of the Italian Defence Minister, senator Roberta Pinotti, the Defence Chief of Staff, General Claudio Graziano, the Minister of the Interior...

ROME — The Italian Air Force and Navy are due to take delivery of the first of four ATR 72 maritime patrol aircraft from Leonardo-Finmeccanica to replace ageing Atlantique aircraft, which they fly out of Sicily’s Sigonella air base.

The delivery, which is reportedly due July 25, marks the culmination of an eight-year wait since Italy opted to spend €360 million (US $397 million) on the aircraft in 2008.

As naval vessels prowl the seas off the Libyan coast, looking for endangered migrants, and conflict zones from Syria to Libya put the Mediterranean back on the front pages, Italy risks losing its maritime patrol reach in the region. Its aging fleet of Atlantiques are to go out of service as Italy struggles to find spare parts.

“There is no way we can afford to have a lack of assets in the area right now,” an Italian defense source said.

The Italian Coast Guard has ordered two additional AW139 helicopters from Leonardo-Finmeccanica.

This latest contract will increase the customer’s fleet of AW139s to twelve. The AW139s will be used to perform a range of missions including maritime patrol, search and rescue (SAR), and emergency medical services. The latest order also includes options for a further two helicopters, the company said in a statement Thursday.

The AW139 was selected by the customer following a European Tender launched in August 2014 for a second batch acquisition. The main contract was awarded in 2010 with the AW139 proving to be the best solution to meet the Italian Coast Guard’s stringent requirements. Delivery of the first batch of AW139s to the Italian Coast Guard started in 2010 and since entering service they have proved extremely successful, performing operations around the Italian coast line and in its maritime economic exclusive zone.

The AW139 has also been selected by and is in service with the Italian State Police, Guardia di Finanza (Customs and Border protection) and the Italian Air Force. The various Italian Government agencies operating the AW139 are able to benefit from shared logistics, training and support systems. This latest contract signed by the Italian Coast Guard brings the total number of AW139s chosen by all of these Italian government operators to 41, covering a wide scope of public utility roles including law enforcement and homeland security, patrol, special operations, search and rescue, command and control, government/VVIP transport, disaster relief and training.

Almost 240 customers from over 70 countries have ordered over 960 AW139 helicopters making it the best-selling helicopter in its class. The AW139 can perform a wide range of roles including government missions, EMS, SAR, executive/private and government transport, law enforcement, utility and offshore transport. Many maritime, border patrol and security agencies from countries around the world, including Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, the UK, USA, Sweden, Spain, Estonia, UAE, to name a few, have selected or are already operating the AW139 to fulfil their requirements

Thursday, 18 August 2016Italian Coast Guard orders two additional AW139 helicoptersLeonardo-Finmeccanica announced an order for additional two AW139 intermediate twin helicopters by the Italian Coast Guard. This latest contract will increase the customer’s fleet of AW139s to twelve. The AW139s will be used to perform a range of missions including maritime patrol, search and rescue (SAR), and emergency medical services. The latest order also includes options for a further two helicopters.